Successful: The Podcast

In the finale episode of Season 3, Natalie and Karla reflect on their favorite moments with this season’s guests (spoiler alert: they were all amazing!) and look ahead to some bold ideas and aspirations for Season 4.  They also introduce a surprise guest who has been hanging out behind the scenes lately - Alissa Dias, who recently joined the team as producer.  Finally, the ladies share their appreciation for the relationships that the podcast has made possible, with their guests, the audience, and the friendship with each other. Thank you for joining us for another fulfilling season of Successful: The Podcast.  If you have any feedback or ideas for guests or topics for future episodes, email us at [email protected].  We can’t wait to see you for Season 4 - have a great summer! If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

Our guest this week is Sarah Valdez, a scuba instructor with a fascinating career journey and inspiring story of facing fears and overcoming adversity.  Opening a dive shop in a foreign country had been the hardest thing she’d ever done, until the pandemic hit less than a year later and she was forced to sell the business.  Sarah shares how she got through that tough time, what opportunities it opened up in her career, and how it’s helped her live a more meaningful life teaching people about diving while supporting the conservation of our planet. Key Takeaways: Leap and the net will appear. So many of us get stuck in fearing all the negative outcomes that could occur, but what if something great could happen? You’ll never know unless you take that leap. Band together and achieve something great.  When we all work toward a common cause, our voice is louder and we can expand our reach to  take on some of really big challenges, like protecting our environment. Financial freedom and time freedom are key to success.  Everyone needs a base level of financial security, but once that’s secured, having control of your time to spend it in the most meaningful way for you is what makes life successful, according to Sarah. Tackle your fears by breaking it into smaller pieces.  If you have something big and scary that you want to do, break it down into small steps until they’re not scary.  This way, you can just chisel away at it, and before you know it, you have achieved something great. Just like scuba diving, when you are up against something scary, like being deep in the ocean, just face your fear, breathe into it, and jump in! About Sarah:  As a scuba instructor and YouTuber, Sarah Valdez uses her brand Azul Unlimited to educate scuba divers and spread the message of ocean conservation.Sarah is infatuated with nature and lives in her van with her dog Abby, exploring the land and sea throughout Canada, the US, and Mexico. PADI Courses and international expeditions run throughout the year, so Sarah and Abby may be coming to a city near you!Aside from her own brand work, Sarah also works as a freelance web developer, copywriter, content creator, and social media manager.  https://azulunlimited.com/ Upcoming expeditions: https://azulunlimited.com/upcoming-diving-expeditions/ https://www.youtube.com/c/azulunlimited https://www.instagram.com/azul.unlimited/ https://www.tiktok.com/@azul.unlimited https://www.facebook.com/AzulUnlimited Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Questions for the hosts? Amazing story of redefining success to share? Send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

This week, Natalie takes the mic for our very first solo episode.  With both our hosts juggling especially busy schedules during this third season of the podcast, the time couldn’t be better to dedicate an entire mini-episode to the importance of rest.  Tune in to hear what recently led Natalie to take two weeks off from work, how she spent her time (spoiler alert: not an elaborate vacation), and why rest is not a luxury, but a right. Key Takeaways: Going away on vacation is not the only way to take time away from work.  Sometimes planning for and going on trip can just add to stress levels when what you really need is time to catch up on sleep, focus on health, and enjoy time at home. You don’t have to “earn it”. Rest is not a luxury or a privilege. Even though it may feel like it in our capitalist society, the purpose of rest is not to come back even more productive.  It’s about giving ourselves the time to reset, daydream, get creative, and just be human.   Check out the episode that Natalie referenced, 22: Savoring Life with Maya Oren. Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Questions for the hosts? Amazing story of redefining success to share? Send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

This week, we welcome our guest Raanah Amjadi, a Health and Wellness Coach who specializes in Ayurveda—the sister science to Yoga. This ancient wisdom deeply influenced her own Persian culture's relationship to food as medicine. Ayurveda is about helping us understand what our unique balance looks like, and then how to counterbalance that unique nature with all forms of nourishment, whether that's food, water, breath - anything we take in from our senses.  Finding balance has been a key theme in Raanah’s story, especially when she found herself out of alignment in her career, having achieved professional success but lacking in personal fulfillment. When she took a step back and had some time to reflect, she started her business helping people realign with their well-being so that they can find self-sustaining joy, purpose, and vitalityKey Takeaways: The first step is awareness - really paying attention to the signals that your body and your mind are sending you throughout the day. How is the quality of your sleep, appetite, digestion, emotional state?  Journaling can be an effective tool to observe your experience of both mind and body. Give yourself permission to turn inward.  As women, there is often a sense of obligation to be in service to our kids, our partner, our job, our community - everyone but ourselves.  It can be something as small as putting everything else aside for one small habit, a sacred ritual to take care of yourself. Realign with your wellbeing by nourishing yourself to balance your system and correcting any imbalances that you may have.  It’s not about perfection, but about finding your way back to the things that keep you healthy and happy. About Raanah: Raanah Amjadi is a Holistic Wellness Coach and owner of LILI JADE. In her practice, Raanah helps people realign with their well-being. She believes everyone’s definition of well-being is different, but when people understand how to find and return to their unique center, they’re better able to make decisions at work and in life that help them cultivate joy, purpose, and vitality. Raanah specializes in Ayurveda—the sister science to Yoga—as this ancient wisdom deeply influenced her own Persian culture's relationship to food as medicine. Prior to launching LILI JADE, Raanah worked at Microsoft for 8.5 years in communications, product marketing, brand, and operations. In July 2022, she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and openly shares her experience managing a chronic illness with both modern medical science and ancient medical wisdom. You can learn more about Raanah’s practice at www.lilijade.com or connect with her on social @lilijadewellness.

If you love to be inspired by stories of courageous women, then you are in for a treat!  We are honored to bring you our guest, New York Times Best Selling author Allison Pataki. Her historical fiction novels focus on highlighting the stories of women throughout history who are not well known today, but who have helped to shape the world as we know it.  In this episode, Allison shares how she took a chance on a career that brings her joy, how she joined “The Club of the Bad Thing” when she almost lost her husband to a stroke at the age of 30, and how that shaped who she is today and her current definition of success. Tune in now and get inspired not only by Allison’s story but also by all the amazing women from history whose stories she brings to life.  Let Your Passion Drive You.  Fear of doing something new and different is normal, but when you follow your passion it’s a force that can help you overcome any obstacle along the way.  This is what helped Allison make the transition from journalism to writing novels, and it’s a common theme among the amazing women she chronicles in her books. Bad Things Breed Strength & Resilience.  It may be hard to see in the moment, but there is a gift in being faced with tremendous loss or adversity in your life.  Allison calls "The Club of The Bad Thing" a membership that no one wants to join, but that adds invaluable texture to you as a human - to your empathy, awareness, relationships, and perspective.   The Healing Power of Stories.  Allison wrote letters to her husband through his early days of recovery.  For her, it was a helpful way for her to process her thoughts in the moment, and it became the bones of her non-fiction book that she wrote to help others who may be navigating similar challenges.  Who knows, maybe your journal will become your first novel! About Allison: Allison Pataki is a writer of adult fiction, adult nonfiction, and children’s books. Her work has been translated into twenty languages and is popular in more than twenty countries. A former news writer and producer, Allison has written for The New York Times, ABC News, The Huffington Post, USA Today, Fox News and other outlets. She has appeared on The TODAY Show, Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, Good Day New York, Good Day Chicago and MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Learn more: https://allisonpataki.com/ Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Questions for the hosts? Amazing story of redefining success to share? Send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

Did you ever think that embarking on a fitness journey would lead you to find joy, empowerment and fulfillment along the way? This week, our guests are Claire Hurwitt, Founder and CEO, and Robyn Donovan, Head Coach, of Fulfilled Health and Fitness. They each share their personal stories of how they transformed their health and well-being through fitness, and how they’ve helped more than a hundred women do the same through their coaching business. Spoiler alert: it’s not just about counting macros and crushing workouts. The real transformation is in the inner work; that’s when the outer transformation follows. Key Takeaways: Take back control of your heath in a way that is authentic to you.  In addition to moving and fueling your body, this can include understanding your mindset, metabolism, hormones, and more. Approach it from the lens of expansion, not restriction. Challenges and joys of entrepreneurship: Claire shares how focusing on serving her community and how she can have the most impact has helped her overcome some of the overwhelm and day to day stress of running her business. Breathwork is a helpful practice for slowing down, releasing stored emotions, and reducing stress and anxiety.  Claire recommends it as key foundational work before tackling a meal plan or workout program.  If you’ve struggled with meditation in the past, breathwork could be a helpful tool for you. Limiting beliefs, particularly when it comes to body image, can take your focus away from the things you actually want to accomplish. It’s important to figure out where they’re coming from so you can release them. Robyn has found success by reframing those limiting beliefs through gratitude. Where there’s gratitude, there’s no room for anything else.  About Claire and Robyn: Claire Hurwitt is a former bikini competitor turned lifestyle holistic coach and founder of the Fulfilled Health & Fitness coaching team.  Fulfilled is all about helping high achieving women get filled up instead of 'effed (messed) up by their fitness journeys and finding their true power in the process.   Website: www.fulfilledhf.com Instagram: @clairehurwittPodcast: Fulfilled AF The Podcast on Apple & Spotify Robyn Donovan is a former finance professional turned holistic health + wellness coach. She focuses on teaching women to ditch dieting in order to achieve the results they've always wanted.Instagram: @robynlivesfit Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Questions for the hosts? Amazing story of redefining success to share? Send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

In this week’s episode, we had the pleasure of speaking with Joemmy Ramirez, a talent management and organizational effectiveness professional, who made the bold decision to take a career break when faced with some stress-related health concerns. Through her experiences, Joemmy emphasizes the importance of adopting a "me first” mindset when it comes to prioritizing your health and your values. Tune in to gain insights and inspiration… if you have been considering a career break, you don’t want to miss this episode! Key Themes: Adopt a “Me First” Mindset: Taking back your power can be as simple as remembering to eat throughout the day, or logging off from work on time in order to make it to your workout; or it can be as foundational as taking a career break to honor your values over the societal expectations and pressures that that may be steering you away from prioritizing your well-being.  Prioritize Your Health: Joemmy discusses the impact of chronic stress and burnout on our overall well-being. Ask yourself, does the stress that you are subjecting yourself to align with the type of life you want to lead? Stay True to Your Definition of Success: For Joemmy, this means moving away from traditional markers of success like promotions and performance in favor of being in integrity with how she perceives herself and how she feels physically and emotionally. About Joemmy: Joemmy Ramirez is a talent management and organizational effectiveness leader that specializes in helping hypergrowth organizations navigate through change. Her experience spans across public and private sectors in multiple industries. After serving as a the Head of Organization Development for a unicorn tech company, she decided to embark on a new path as a freelance contractor. Joemmy is currently training for her second marathon while leaning into content creation for her nail art and baking side businesses.  Nail Art Instagram: @joems_nailed_it Personal Instagram: @la_belle_joems Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Questions for the hosts? Amazing story of redefining success to share? Send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy.  Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

We were so inspired to speak to this week’s guest, Yanet Borrego, a former engineer and consultant turned career mindset and clarity coach.  At a young age, Yanet learned about taking risks and personal reinvention when she and her mother left Cuba to seek asylum in the United States.  Come for her compelling story of new beginnings; stay for her equally incredible coaching tips about clarity, purpose, and reinventing yourself!Key Takeaways: Trust the process.  Making big decisions out of love, not fear, isn’t easy.  But resourcefulness and resilience are within us, and if we have the mindset, we can make anything happen. Don’t wait until crisis hits to find your intersection of success and fulfillment.  Clarity is a product of experimenting, taking actions, and seeing what connects with us (and what doesn’t) Start tapping into the emotions you’re after even before you’ve reached the desired outcome.  Neurolinguistic programming techniques can help us reprogram our thought patterns to align our behavior with our intentions.   Yanet Borrego is a former engineer and consultant turned into a career mindset & clarity coach. Her voluntary transition from her 9 years corporate career, where she worked for two global Fortune 500 companies, to full-time entrepreneurship inspired her to continue coaching and mentoring individuals to find their purpose and step into who they are meant to be. Yanet is the host of the "With Clarity and Purpose" podcast. She has been featured in Business Insider and NextAdvisor with TIME. Website: Mindset & Clarity Coach empowering you to live life at your own terms (ybcoaching.com) LinkedIn: Yanet Borrego | LinkedIn Instagram: Yanet | Mindset Coach & Speaker💡 (@yanetbcoaching) • Instagram photos and videos

We are excited to share this week’s episode, a fascinating conversation with Ashalee Hurst, Professor of Social Psychology.  Ashalee shared that one of her top values is honesty, and for her, that means “being honest with other people, but really… being honest with myself and staying true to myself and representing myself as I really am.”  We think Ashalee completely embodied this value, lighting us up with her authentic self and unique experience throughout the interview. A recurring theme throughout the discussion was the importance of checking in with yourself, from understanding how your hormones are impacting your behavior, to listening to yourself to stay close to your values and goals. Key Takeaways: Hormones affect our behavior. This is Ashalee’s current field of study, and her research has uncovered some interesting insights, specifically on how women interact with one another during different parts of their cycles.  It’s helpful to recognize this and give yourself some grace! Psychology is not just about mental health problems, but also about what is going right!  Positive psychology is one of the subjects Ashalee teaches, and she highlights the power of focusing on your strengths and gratitude helps to maintain happiness. Becoming a mom is an experience through which our values are magnified.  Ashalee shared how becoming a mother has fueled her appreciation for her career - not only the flexibility it allows her to spend time with her family, but the opportunity for her to mentor students.  Check in with yourself and recognize that our values and goals change. Trust yourself to make decisions that are right for you in the moment, knowing that you can always shift direction to make sure you stay in alignment. About Ashalee:  Ashalee Hurst is a full-time Assistant Professor of Psychology and a toddler mom. She has a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology and currently teaches a variety of undergraduate courses such as Experimental Psychology, Positive Psychology, and Psychology as a Career & Profession. Ashalee is passionate about mentorship; she loves helping students discover and pursue a career path. Ashalee is also passionate about family dance parties in her living room, scenic hikes, and toddler hugs.  You can connect with Ashalee at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashaleehurst or [email protected]. Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Questions for the hosts? Amazing story of redefining success to share? Send us an email at ⁠[email protected]⁠. If you like the show, we’d be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Thank you to our sponsors: ⁠The Podcast Space⁠. Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.   Enroll at ⁠thepodcastspace.com/membership⁠.  ⁠The Joyful Career⁠. Work with Karla to learn how to overcome fear and build the career and life that lights you up!  Schedule a Discovery coaching call ⁠here⁠.  Sign up for The Joyful Career weekly newsletter ⁠here⁠. 

In this solo episode, hosts Natalie and Karla share important career decisions they’ve each made recently, how they've managed their mindsets through the process, and using “holographic thinking” to assess logic, emotion, and intuition as inputs for their decisions. Key Takeaways: Find the little gifts in any situation. Approach circumstances with curiosity and use your creativity to open yourself up to learning and opportunities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a tool that helps reframe the thoughts behind your emotions, remove the layers to get to the bottom of what may really be bothering you, and identify your root fears. Identifying (and writing down!) your fears helps to clearly assess them and keep your focus on the present moment. Always go back to your values to bring clarity to an important decision. The trifecta of decision-making: Holographic Thinking. Logic, emotion, and intuition are all equally important when making a decision. If you like the show, we'd be so honored if you left us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This way, more women can learn about us and, hopefully, feel more inspired to define and pursue their own success in ways that bring them joy. Click here to leave a review on Apple Podcasts Click here to leave a review on Spotify Topic ideas? Guest suggestions? Stories to share? Questions for the hosts? Send us an email at [email protected]. Thank you to our sponsor, The Podcast Space.Learn how to craft a successful podcast with membership to the Podcast Friends and Trends.  Enroll at thepodcastspace.com/membership.